Spinal Injury Leads to Permanent Damage Very Quickly

A new study indicates to spinal injury lawyers that when a person suffers a spinal cord injury, there is damage to the spine much sooner than earlier believed.

Further research into spinal injury is throwing new insight on these catastrophic life-altering injuries. A new study indicates to spinal injury lawyers that when a person suffers a spinal cord injury, there is damage to the spine much sooner than earlier believed.

According to the research which was published recently in The Lancet Neurology, damage to tissues begins as quickly as within 40 days after the injury. That is much sooner than earlier believed.

As part of the research, the investigators monitored 13 persons with a spinal cord injury, and used MRI techniques to assess the level of their injury. The patients were evaluated on a regular basis every three months for a period of one year after they had suffered the spinal injury. The researchers found that approximately 12 months after the injury, the diameter of the spinal cord had shrunk to approximately 7% lower than it was before the injury.

The researchers also found a number of other signs of deterioration. For instance, there was a decline in the corticospinal tract which is the area of the spine that is responsible for motor control. There were also declines in the nerve cells in the sensorimotor cortex of the brain. Overall, patients suffered more significant tissue loss at the site of the injury and had much slower recoveries, compared to those who had less significant damage.

This research is very significant because until now, researchers believed that it took years for tissue changes to occur in the spinal cord area around the injury. The finding that tissue damage sets in much quicker could provide more clues about the devastating nature of these injuries.

One of our Meeting Locations: The Reeves Law Group 1 World Trade Center #800, Long Beach, CA 90831 (562) 528-3135